The conifer for the Portland Timbers and orange wedges for all: Soccer in these United States

Thursday, January 5, 2017

The Late Tackle 01 05 2017: On Roster Rebuilds, Youth, and The Bruce's Penultimate January Camp

Another day, another post, some
trades, some U.S. Men’s National Team crap…

Leoardo, Roy. Roy, Leanardo

Whenever I felt bad about the
Portland Timbers’ chances last year, I could look south, then a little east…no,
more, where I’d see the Houston Dynamo. In those dark minutes (don’t like to
dwell), I could tell myself, “hey, it could be worse, I could be a Dynamo fan.”
These flashes of superiority lasted right up to the moment when Portland tripped
over the same red, velvet rope as Houston, the one that keeps teams out of the
playoffs.

Having heard whispers of a “total
rebuild” down in Dynamo-land, seeing them add Leonardo from the Los Angeles
Galaxy reads like going cheap on parts. So, in the context of “total rebuild,”
I dug a little deeper, spotting two more names in the report on Leonardo, Alberth Elis and Romell Quioto. They’re both young, Honduran attackers, not exactly the
hottest names in the transfer market, plus, how many young players come to MLS
only to flame out? In search of where the there is here, I finally dragged my
lazy ass over to the Dynamo’s current roster, where I found still more names: Adolfo
Machado, Juan David Cabezas, even Eric Alexander, who might not be the best
player MLS has ever seen, but he’s smart, reliable depth, and a gamer with the
right people around him.

Even if you think Portland’s in a
slightly shinier boat than Houston heading into 2017, the Dynamo appears well ahead
and seeing, and addressing, the need for repairs. If this were just a case of
weighing Leonardo as a pickup versus Portland’s latest, Roy Miller, it’d be one
thing. Sure, every one of the Dynamo’s reinforcements might go bust, but I
wouldn’t count on it. So, yeah, pick it up, Portland.

And Go Bigger than This

Looks like the 2017 Superdraft
comes in just under one week (January 11, plus...something) and, here, my first thought tops this section –
i.e., I think the Timbers need more than a couple rookies to achieve that
certain sense of security any team/fan-base should want heading into a season.
Seeing Soccer By Ives connect Portland to Niko Hansen, a winger, in its mock draft 1.0 feels
like a reprise of last year’s draft, only last year, the Timbers had some logic
and MLS Cup by way of security.

Portland addressed one area of
real concern with David Guzman, who at the very least should afford some flexibility
to shuffle existing pieces to better places. When it comes to their two remaining
areas of need – central defense and a winger – I’ll feel way, way better seeing
actual, off-the-shelf starters in both roles, and that’s at a minimum. Rodney
Wallace would definitely apply but, even then, I’d feel antsy about the team’s
depth at wing. And even if Rennico Clarke steps into a starting role, I want
brighter talent in the safety net than Roy Miller and Jermaine Taylor.

Since I’m on this, I thought I’d also link to the Top 10 Prospects List Will Parchman posted for MLSSoccer.com. You'll see a fair amount of overlap between the two lists, and that's to be expected, because small pool. I
know jack and shit about any of these guys – and I’m certainly not against adding
a winger or defender…just better not stop there.

When The Bruce Comes A-Courtin’

Bruce Arena called his first January Camp in the Bruce 2.0 Era and it should make fans and lovers of MLS
feel the relief of having a National Team coach who’s willing to hug us back (I
feel so…safe in these arms….nodding off). Arena didn’t miss any major names, I
suppose (have a couple from the New England Revolution in my mind, but those
are fair omissions), and he’ll have to cull this thing to a game-day roster for
the upcoming friendlies (uh, is it Serbia and the end of January, and Jamaica
in earliest February?), but that shouldn’t come too hard.

It could help, in fact, with what
strikes me as a messy glut of midfielders – e.g., how to fit any of Darlington
Nagbe, Sebastian Lletget, Dax McCarty, Sacha Kljestan, Alejandro Bedoya,
Michael Bradley, Wil Trapp, etc. into one midfield without turning it into one
of those super-groups musicians scare up to honor the dead? Even as I
understand that this will be a plug-‘n’-play situation (e.g. parts that sort of
butt together by way of approach and talents won’t play in the same eleven),
this still feels like a lot to sort out. I guess there’s Chris Pontius and
Kekuta Manneh as wingers, but…well, it gets thin thereafter.

Eh, he’ll sort it out, Bruce
will, and guide the U.S. through the Hexagonal’s soft patch…right?

After that, I just have a stray
note or two: please, no more Chris Wondolowski, Jermaine Jones, Brad Evans, or
even Nick Rimando. Well, maybe keep Rimando. The other guys, though, need to
make way between form and age…and I write that knowing that Jones would kick my
ass for saying it.

All right. All for today. Still perfecting
the system. More to the point, though, I’m ready for some goddamn games. Let’s
get that ass shaking, calendar…